YWCA at 60: From Social Outlet to Performing Vital Social Work

Lillian Walker, photo taken approximately 1945. Walker is one of the founders of the YWCA of Kitsap County, which received its charter in 1948.

Lillian Walker, 94, of Bremerton, the last known surviving founder of the YWCA of Kitsap County, said black and white women always socialized easily at the Y. She is pictured in her home with the Y's executive director, Linda Joyce, who oversees today's Y devoted to helping abused women and their children.
(CAROLYN J. YASCHUR | KITSAP SUN)

BREMERTON

On its 60th birthday, the YWCA of Kitsap County is reflecting back on its founding and looking ahead to where it wants to go.

When it emerged around World War I, it was a social club for women. Today, its mission has evolved into being a fierce protector of abused women and their children.

"We want to stop those cycles of violence in families," said Executive Director Linda Joyce.

This year also marks the 30th anniversary of the YWCA's shelter for domestic-violence victims. Located in a once-grand old home, the Alternatives to Living In a Violent Environment (ALIVE) Shelter offered a safe haven to 75 desperate women and 34 children last year.

Beyond that, the agency provides services for the most vulnerable women and children, including providing food, clothing, counseling and legal help, along with services for the wider community.

With headquarters on Pacific Avenue in Bremerton and offices in Poulsbo and on Bainbridge Island, the YWCA shoulders a $1 million annual budget, sending $430,000 of it to the ALIVE Shelter, its primary mission.

RACES MIXED AT Y, BUT NOT OUTSIDE

The first record of the organization here was around World War I, when archives mention a young ladies' lounge on Fourth Street and a YWCA funds drive in the shipyard.

It re-emerged during the World War II years, working with other service groups to assist civilian women and soldiers in this boomtown city. Records show at least two locations in downtown Bremerton that included space on Second Street donated by Bremerton businessman William Bremer.

When the war ended, support dried up.

In 1946, the idea of resurrecting the YWCA was put to the community. Response was strong, and the YWCA of Kitsap County received its current charter in 1948.

Lillian Walker, 94, of Bremerton is the last known surviving founder.

The YWCA in those early years offered the only occasions in town where women — black and white — could come relax, have coffee and socialize, she said.

The city outside was divided. Blacks, including Walker, were being denied service in some downtown diners.

In 1964, the YWCA took possession of a Bremerton house willed to it by Ida Kimball, who was from the family of early-day Bremerton merchant and civic leader C.P. Kimball.

It was a stately old place with lovely woodwork and fixtures, and came complete with Oriental rugs, furniture and fine china.

Finally, the struggling YWCA had a permanent home.

Meetings and classes took place in the basement. Female college students and young working women stayed in rooms upstairs, and the gracious main floor was used for teas, receptions and meetings.

But times were changing. The question of whether Kitsap County should have a safe house for women began to circulate.

In 1977, Carolyn Hershberger and Jean Kruse, both active in the community, organized a public meeting to gauge interest in starting one, according to YWCA archives.

That meeting brought a "huge response," Hershberger said. A core of women including Hershberger and Kruse began laying the groundwork.

"There was nothing like the energy of the women that put that shelter together," Hershberger said.

But to get funding, the group needed nonprofit status.

Members asked to merge with the nonprofit YWCA, which turned them down.

The prospect of taking on this big, new mission pitted some of the older YWCA members who wanted things to stay as they were against younger ones, who wanted change.

"At that time, the Y was very close to losing their charter because they weren't doing anything," Hershberger said.

Soon, after pressure from the national YWCA, the local Y approached the shelter advocates and asked them to join.

Shelter supporters got their nonprofit status through the merger, and the number of shelter supporters on the YWCA board grew.

In time, enough money came in for the YWCA to open a shelter in the upstairs of Kahn's, a former Fourth Street department store. That was 30 years ago.

The shelter was there for only a short time before moving to the former Kimball house, where it remains today.

"This was a time when domestic violence was not recognized as a social issue," said Kitsap County Superior Court Judge Karlynn Haberly, on the YWCA board during the shift in mission.

The YWCA's administrative offices moved into its permanent Pacific Avenue quarters in 1999.

TO TRANSITIONAL HOUSING FOR WOMEN

Joyce, the Y's current director, said her organization is grateful for all the support from partners over the years, as well as individuals from the community whose vision for a shelter never paled.

"They're tenacious in their vision," Joyce said.

Hershberger, who now lives in Tacoma, said of the shelter, "It's wonderful. It was obviously such a need."

Retired Kitsap County Auditor Karen Flynn, who around 1989 worked successfully for an event-admissions tax to support groups like the YWCA of Kitsap County, said, "It's just been wonderful to see them."

Joyce said the next challenge for the Y will be to help increase the stock of affordable housing available for women and children on the edge.

"Our vision is to expand transitional housing," Joyce said.

Not surprisingly, founder Walker remains a big booster.

"In the first place, I believe in the Y."

She said it is a place where women can come "no matter what color you are."

Now, too, for safety.

Perhaps tomorrow, transitional housing.

60TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

The public is invited to a reception and celebration to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the YWCA of Kitsap County. It will be from 5:30 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at the Fountain Room at the Kitsap Conference Center, 100 Washington Ave., Bremerton. The event, which also will mark the 30th anniversary of the ALIVE shelter for abused women and children, is free, with an opportunity to buy a commemorative brick for $60. To RSVP, call the Y at (360) 479-0522. Donations can be sent to YWCA of Kitsap County, P.O. Box 559, Bremerton, 98337.

The YWCA

Founded in London in 1855, the YWCA is oldest and largest multicultural women's organization in the world. With a mission to eliminate racism and empower women, the group has a rich history of advocating for civil and women rights in the United States. It has 25 million members worldwide, and 2.6 million members and participants in the U.S.